Returning Bhuvneshwar rattles Sri Lanka with maiden five-fer

Bhuvneshwar Kumar celebrated his return to the playing XI with a maiden five-wicket haul in 50-overs cricket as Sri Lanka once again crumbled on a decent batting surface. The hosts were bowled out for 238 in the final ODI in Colombo on Sunday (September 3) that left them on the brink of an embarrassing 5-0 whitewash for the first time in this format in their own backyard.

Sri Lanka's decision to bat first once again surprised a few especially with the cloud cover and the possibility of rain later in the evening. While India continued to experiment by making four changes to their playing XI, Sri Lanka welcomed their regular skipper Upul Tharanga back in place of Kusal Mendis, who was given a break. And Tharanga enjoyed his return by finding the sweetest spot of the bat in the very first over bowled by Bhuvneshwar.

He followed it up with another boundary over extra cover off Shardul Thakur, who was the only bowler to have an indifferent evening. Niroshan Dickwella then gave India their first breakthrough in the third over when he failed to read Bhuvneshwar's well disguised knuckle ball and hit it straight back to the bowler. The wicket didn't deter the skipper though as he continued to play freely striking boundaries at will.

Perhaps the Sri Lankans were intent on making use of the fielding restrictions as Tharanga continued his rampage despite losing Dilshan Munaweera cheaply as well. Bhuvneshwar once again outfoxed the batsman who looked totally out of sorts in the middle. Lahiru Thirimanne entered the fray with a rebuilding job on his agenda yet again but the hosts were dented further when the free flowing Tharanga succumbed to Jasprit Bumrah. The bowler bowled one across the batsman and the ball took the leading edge, hit the thigh pad before landing in MS Dhoni's gloves.

With things looking gloomy on the pitch, Angelo Mathews and Thirimanne had to dig deep to bail their side out of trouble. Mathews battled past Bumrah's testing spell at the start and even though Yuvvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were kept interested with the track offering turn, the two experienced batsmen batted their way out of trouble taking some time in the process.

Thirimanne finally hit the first six of the innings when he stepped out of his crease against Chahal in the 28th over and then three overs later, he finally brought up a fighting half-century off 83 balls. Mathews at the other end took 80 balls to get to his second successive fifty as the duo's century stand became the highest for any wicket for the hosts in this series.

Well placed at 181 for 3 after 38 overs, the platform was well and truly set for a final flourish but the script once again turned out to be quite similar to the ones that were witnessed earlier in the series. One wicket led to another as both set batsmen fell in quick succession to complicate matters. While Bhuvneshwar came back and cramped Thirimanne for room to induce the inside edge that shattered the stumps, Mathews attempted a scoop that took the top edge.

A needless run out then signaled the end for Wanidu Hasaranga as the island nation lost three wickets for 20 runs that turned the tide completely. From there on, it was one way traffic as India continued to chip away with the wickets. Dhoni effected his 100th stumping in ODI cricket in the process, becoming the first man to achieve the feat. Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar then polished off the tail to cap off another good performance.